The higher priced Fender guitars were made in the United States and could not compete with the lower prices of Japanese made Fender copies.

In the early 1980s, Japanese labour and production costs were much lower than in America and to compete with the Japanese made guitars, Fender moved the lower priced Fender guitar production from America to Japan.

and both were being made at the same time from 1994 till 1997.

Further negotiations between Fender and Japanese guitar factories took place.

For instance, many of the MIJ/CIJ Telecasters have the serial number on the bridge and they start with an "A".

Yet if you take the neck off they can be 1994-1997!

Regarding quailty, I have owned many of both these Japanese guitars and it is a fallacy that the than the Mexican made guitars and rival many of the USA models.

The JV and SQ guitars, as well as some of the E series, had USA parts (mostly pickups, switches, and potentiometers) that were shipped over to Japan to help speed up production while the new USA plant was being set up in Corona, California.